As of the latest patch, the faction number restrictions have been lifted and each player is awarded 60k upon character creation. Once the servers are back up, pile in and we can have a Network at full CB strength.

The 60K is nice to kickstart the beta, sure, but I am worried that it will mean that the early economy will go untested. Yeah, it is annoying to spend 2 days mining in beta, but it is better to do it in beta so it can be fixed, than to skip it in beta and wind up having to do it at launch, with no real hope for a fix.